The question of whether this was altogether a good idea was examined by the so-called Cadogan Committee which reported in the late 1930s that it was not, if for no other reason that when it came to curbing juvenile crime it did not. But the war intervened and the report was not acted on for a further decade.
Scottish courts in the 1930s believed in the birch. Four times as many boys in Scotland were whipped — on the basis of percentages of convictions — than south of the Border and the punishments permitted were considerably more severe.
In England and Wales boys aged eight to 14 were liable and the maximum penalty was 12 strokes of the birch. In Scotland the age group open to corporal punishment ran on a further two years — to 16 — and while 12 strokes of the birch was the limit under 14 those who were that age and above could receive up to 36 strokes with either a birch or a tawse … the latter instrument being held to be more severe.